Rampage killer sealed his own fate, jury says

A Kane County jury decided Tuesday that Luther Casteel should be executed for murdering two men during a shooting rampage last spring at an Elgin bar.

Jurors, who took 21/2 hours to decide Casteel's fate, said his refusal to take responsibility made their deliberations easier. Casteel testified Monday that he feared nothing and wanted no mercy. Surprising even his own attorneys, he refused to say whether he felt remorse for his actions.

"That was pretty much what cooked him," said juror Mike Helton, 20, a car salesman from South Elgin, in an interview Tuesday evening.

"I think he was almost proud of what he had done," said juror Kurt Turville, 40, a motorcycle mechanic from South Elgin.

Casteel, 43, a truck driver from Elgin, was convicted last week of two counts of first-degree murder and 15 counts of attempted murder.

On Tuesday defense attorney Regina Harris told jurors that Casteel wanted to die when he entered JB's Pub early in the morning on April 14, armed with four guns, and began shooting. Harris said Casteel's self-incriminating testimony in the penalty phase of his trial was an attempt to "finish the job."

"He wants you to assist in his suicide," said Harris, a Kane County assistant public defender. "Don't do it. Don't be his Dr. Kevorkian."

Prosecutors focused on Casteel's testimony as evidence that he was unrepentant and defiant. Recalling that Casteel called himself a good person who did no harm unless provoked, prosecutors displayed pictures of a murder victim lying on the floor of the bar and asked jurors what the victims had done to provoke Casteel.

"Did you ever hear the words remorse, I'm sorry, repent, apology, sorrow?" Assistant State's Atty. Robert Berlin said to the jury. "He has no remorse for what happened because that's the kind of person he is.

"He knows the difference between right and wrong. He just doesn't give a damn. . . . He's evil."

If Casteel had been suicidal at the time of the shooting rampage, Berlin said, he would have used the bullets left in his pockets to kill himself.

According to testimony during the four-week trial, Casteel was thrown out of JB's Pub the evening of April 13 after harassing women and quarreling with employees. He drove home but returned with a shaved head and wearing a gas mask and camouflage jacket, witnesses said.

As he fired, Casteel yelled profanities and asked for the man who threw him out of the bar, witnesses said. The rampage ended when patrons wrestled him to the floor and pinned him down until Elgin police arrived.

`Call to duty'

Berlin told jurors that it was their duty to sentence Casteel to death: "This, today, is your call to duty. . . . Soldiers go to war, and jurors go to court."

The families of the murdered men clapped as Berlin and State's Atty. Meg Gorecki left the courtroom after the jury announced its decision.

"When a person has no remorse, there's not much more that you can state," Gorecki said outside the courtroom, explaining that the prosecution was able to use Casteel's own testimony to bolster its case. "It's clear that the victims never had a chance."

Bartlett said she felt hurt by Casteel's testimony and discounted his argument that he was a victim of a violent childhood.

"In this society there's always someone to blame," Bartlett said. "Blame the parents. Blame society. He can't do that anymore."

Susanna Orr, the mother of the other murdered man, JB's bartender Jeffrey Weides, also said the sentence pleased her. Orr said she thought Casteel should receive the death penalty regardless of whether he apologized.

"An emotional outbreak on his part wouldn't have helped anything," Orr said.

After they were released from duty Tuesday afternoon, jurors gathered for drinks at a tavern in downtown Geneva. Berlin joined jurors at the bar, as did Richard Bartlett's parents, who thanked them.

"I think [Casteel] about sealed his fate," Berlin said. "It wasn't so much what he said, it was how he said it.

"He was indignant and he showed no remorse, and yet it was clear to everyone that he knew what he was doing when he did this. I've never seen anything like it in 14 years."

Hardest decision

Jurors agreed that Casteel's testimony Monday helped them choose the death penalty rather than life imprisonment without parole. But many stressed that sentencing a man to die was the hardest decision they have ever made.

"Anytime you put someone to death, it's a major step," said juror David Damschen of Montgomery.

Damschen said defense attorneys had no choice but to let Casteel testify, since he wanted to do it.

On Friday, before jurors were led into the courtroom, Casteel blocked his attorneys from presenting a witness who planned to testify that Casteel was suicidal 20 years ago.

"You realize your life literally hangs in the balance?" Judge Donald Hudson asked Casteel after his attorneys announced Casteel's decision.

"Yes, I do," he said.

"You understand the adverse implications if you do not wish to present this favorable witness?" Hudson asked.

Casteel again said he knew what he was doing. Harris, the assistant public defender, later said Casteel was "completely irrational."

Although Gov. George Ryan placed a moratorium on executions in January 2000, juries in Illinois can still assign the death penalty.

As in all death-penalty cases, Harris said, the Casteel verdict will be appealed automatically. She said she did not know whether Casteel would try to forestall the process. Casteel had asked for a speedy trial.

Harris said she knew Casteel to be remorseful, but she declined to answer when asked how he had expressed his sorrow.

Casteel's dare

Jurors also said they were not swayed by the defense's argument that Casteel could not reason because he was drinking heavily and taking anti-depressant drugs.

Juror Deanna Herrmann of Elburn said Casteel's testimony left her with the impression that he had no conscience and felt no responsibility for his actions.

"He was, in a sense, daring us to give him the death penalty," she said. "I don't think he cares either way."